Viola (trawler) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Viola is a steam

Steamboat

A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...

trawler built in 1906. During her long career, she has also been known as Viola III, Kapduen and Dias.

History

Viola was built for the Hellyer Steam Fishing Company in 1906 by Cook, Welton & Gemmell

Cook, Welton & Gemmell

Cook, Welton and Gemmell was a shipbuilders based in Hull and Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire. England.The firm was founded in 1883 on South Bridge Road, Hull, on the Humber bank. The founding partners were William James Cook, Charles Keen Welton and William Gemmell...

of Beverley

Beverley

Beverley is a market town, civil parish and the county town of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, located between the River Hull and the Westwood. The town is noted for Beverley Minster and architecturally-significant religious buildings along New Walk and other areas, as well as the Beverley...

, then floated down the River Hull

River Hull

The River Hull is a navigable river in the East Riding of Yorkshire in the north of England. It rises from a series of springs to the west of Driffield, and enters the Humber estuary at Kingston upon Hull. Following a period when the Archbishops of York charged tolls for its use, it became a free...

to Hull

Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

where she was fitted with steam engines by the engineering firm of Amos & Smith. She burnt coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

until 1956 when she was converted to oil. She was part of the Hellyer Steam Fishing Company's North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

fleet, and like much of Hellyer's fleet was named after a Shakespearean

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

character.

Hellyer's trawlers stayed out at sea for weeks at a time, transferring their catch to a fleet of five fast steam cutters which commuted between the fishing grounds and the fish markets of eastern England. Viola was regularly at sea for more than 310 days a year.

Viola at war

In September 1914, Viola was requisitioned by the Admiralty, renamed Viola III (FY 614) armed with a 3 pound gun

QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss

The QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss was a light 47-mm naval gun introduced in 1886 to defend against new small fast vessels such as torpedo boats, and later submarines...

and moved to Shetland, patrolling
the waters out as far as Fair Isle

Fair Isle

Fair Isle is an island in northern Scotland, lying around halfway between mainland Shetland and the Orkney islands. It is famous for its bird observatory and a traditional style of knitting.-Geography:...

looking for U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

s and escorting other vessels.

Later in the war, the Viola was armed with a 12-pound gun, and transferred to the Tyne

River Tyne

The River Tyne is a river in North East England in Great Britain. It is formed by the confluence of two rivers: the North Tyne and the South Tyne. These two rivers converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Waters'.The North Tyne rises on the...

for minesweeping

Demining

Demining or mine clearance is the process of removing either land mines, or naval mines, from an area, while minesweeping describes the act of detecting of mines. There are two distinct types of mine detection and removal: military and humanitarian.Minesweepers use many tools in order to accomplish...

duty. She was one of the first vessels to use depth charge

Depth charge

A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...

s. She was also fitted with hydrophone

Hydrophone

A hydrophone is a microphone designed to be used underwater for recording or listening to underwater sound. Most hydrophones are based on a piezoelectric transducer that generates electricity when subjected to a pressure change...

s. Along with other armed trawlers

Naval trawler

A naval trawler is a vessel built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes. Naval trawlers were widely used during the First and Second world wars. Fishing trawlers were particularly suited for many naval requirements because they were robust boats designed to work...

she was involved in actions resulting in the sinking of at least two U-boats: the UB-30

SM UB-30

SM UB-30 was a German Type UB II submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The U-boat was ordered on 22 July 1915 and launched on 16 November 1915...

off Whitby

Whitby

Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...

on 13 August 1918, and the UB-115

SM UB-115

SM UB-115 was a German Type UB III submarine or U-boat of the Kaiserliche Marine. She was the only German submarine commissioned with the number 115....

off the Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

coast on 29 September.

Kapduen and Dias - whaling

Many vessels from Hellyer's North Sea fleet were lost during the war, and after the war they decided to concentrate on the distant fishing grounds off the coast of Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

and the Barents Sea

Barents Sea

The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of Norway and Russia. Known in the Middle Ages as the Murman Sea, the sea takes its current name from the Dutch navigator Willem Barents...

, selling off the remaining North Sea trawlers. Viola was sold to Massey & Sons in 1918, and in the following year sold to L. Thorsen of Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

and renamed Kapduen. Thorsen were taken over by the whaling

Whaling

Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...

firm of Nils Torvald Nielsen Alonso, and the Kapduen was converted for whaling, being fitted with a new bridge forward of the funnel. She was renamed Dias in 1924 and over the next few years whaled off the coast of Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. By 1927 she was laid up at Sandefjord

Sandefjord

is a city and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Sandefjord. The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838...

Dias - sealing and expeditions

Dias was then sold to Compañía Argentina de Pesca

Compañía Argentina de Pesca

Compañía Argentina de Pesca was initiated by the British-Norwegian whaler and Antarctic explorer Carl A. Larsen, and established on 29 February 1904 by three foreign residents of Buenos Aires: the Norwegian consul P. Christophersen, H.H. Schlieper , and E. Tornquist...

, and moved to Grytviken

Grytviken

Grytviken is the principal settlement in the British territory of South Georgia in the South Atlantic. It was so named in 1902 by the Swedish surveyor Johan Gunnar Andersson who found old English try pots used to render seal oil at the site. It is the best harbour on the island, consisting of a...

in South Georgia

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands, known as the South Sandwich...

for sealing

Southern Elephant Seal

The Southern Elephant Seal is one of the two extant species of elephant seal. It is both the most massive pinniped and member of the order Carnivora living today...

. She was also used as a support vessel for expeditions in the South Atlantic, supporting the Argentine

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

weather station

Weather station

A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...

at Laurie Island

Laurie Island

Laurie Island is an island in the Antarctic Circle, the second largest of the South Orkney Islands. The island is claimed by both Argentina as part of Argentine Antarctica, and the United Kingdom as part of the British Antarctic Territory...

, the Kohl-Larsen

Ludwig Kohl-Larsen

Ludwig Kohl-Larsen was a German physician, amateur anthropologist, and explorer.-Biography:...

Expedition of 1928/9, the British South Georgia Expedition of 1954/55, the topographical surveys carried out by Duncan Carse

Duncan Carse

Duncan Carse was born in 1913 and attended Sherborne School. A British actor and explorer, he died on 2 May 2004, aged 90. He had lived in Fittleworth, West Sussex, for over 40 years. His father was the artist A...

between 1951 and 1957, and the Bird Island

Bird Island, Falkland Islands

Bird Island is one of the Falkland Islands. It lies due south of West Falkland, near Port Stephens and Calm HeadAccording to Ian Strange:-Geography:Bird Island is located 4·5 km off the south-western coast of West Falkland and is...

Expedition of 1958.

Retirement and dereliction

In 1964 the whaling station at Grytviken closed, and Dias, along with another sealer, Albatros, was laid up. A caretaker was responsible for maintenance, painting and running the engines, but he left in 1971. Over the next few years snow and ice built up on the superstructure and the Dias foundered at her mooring in the winter of 1974. Albatros sank the following year.

Rescue campaign

In 2004, as part of a project to restore and conserve Grytviken, the Dias and the Albatros were refloated and cleared of all remaining oil. Both ships have now been beached.

An organisation, the "Friends of Viola/Dias", seeks to preserve the ship, either in situ

In situ

In situ is a Latin phrase which translated literally as 'In position'. It is used in many different contexts.-Aerospace:In the aerospace industry, equipment on board aircraft must be tested in situ, or in place, to confirm everything functions properly as a system. Individually, each piece may...

or by bringing her back to Hull.

In 2006 the Violas original bell was discovered on a farm at Sandefjord and purchased by Hull Maritime Museum

Hull Maritime Museum

The Hull Maritime Museum is a museum in Kingston upon Hull , England, that explores the seafaring heritage of the city and its environs...